Teamwork
by Cheeseburger of Doom
Summary: The oblivious Akazawa starts to realize that there might just be a fine line between teamwork and...something else.


****

"Teamwork"

Akazawa didn't really think he was overreacting, but he couldn't ask anyone's opinion, because he didn't want to sound like a fool. He had a strong sense of pride, and he didn't want to have it hurting.

It would have been nice to be able to ask someone "Is Kaneda going to far with this? Do you think that Kaneda is, well…um…" but he couldn't even finish the question in his own mind, never mind asking it of someone else; especially the people he was closest to. He didn't have all that many friends, really; the only ones he talked to on a regular basis were his teammates -- and he somehow didn't think Mizuki was a good person to ask about all of this. There was always Yuuta, but he would probably be uncomfortable having his buchou confide in him; Kisarazu was a good guy, but it would be embarrassing. Yanagisawa -- no. That thought would go no further, and Nomura -- ugh.

Akazawa was just going to have to put up with Kaneda's strange behavior, until either Kaneda himself explained it, or he went mad. It was beginning to look as though the second would happen a lot sooner than the first.

The erratic behavior was something that had developed only recently, after he and Kaneda had started practicing doubles together. Akazawa was not exactly the most adept at doubles play; he'd had that shoved in his face quite well by Kaneda during their match against the Golden Pair.

He'd been stunned that day; while Kaneda yelled at him and showed off that he actually had a spine, Akazawa had felt -- well, he'd felt inspired, and somewhat proud; it meant that Kaneda had guts in him somewhere, and he'd been trained well. It had made Akazawa almost willing to learn how to really play doubles well -- and he'd even sort of said so, after the match.

__

"We should practice more."

"Really, Akazawa-buchou?"

"Um. Yes."

Now that he thought about it, Kaneda had seemed altogether too happy about that --

__

"I'll make sure to teach you everything there is to know about being a doubles partner!"

"Right."

"We'll train long and hard."

"…"

"I'm so happy!"

"Kaneda. It's tennis."

"I know, but -- oh, you're going to be such a good doubles player! We'll be the perfect team! We --"

Akazawa had missed the end of the rant because he'd had a pressing need to use the toilet. He regretted that move, though; had he stuck around to hear the rest, he might have had some answers to his questions of the present.

Questions such as -- why was Kaneda using such drastic training measures? Was it really that important to know your partner so well?

Some of his methods just seemed a little…well, personal…

__

"Akazawa-buchou! What color are your underpants?"

"What the hell --"

"It's all part of teamwork, buchou! Trust me! What color are they?"

"…red."

"Boxers or briefs?"

Cough. "Briefs."

"Excellent! Although it might help better if you actually showed me."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Pleease?"

"Go run some laps, Kaneda."

"Teamwork, buchou, teamwork!"

"Fine, no laps. But I'm not showing you my underwear."

That particular incident really stuck out in Akazawa's mind, but it wasn't the only example; there were countless times over the past while that he could pinpoint really excessive training --

__

"Is this really necessary, Kaneda?"

"We'll understand each other better this way!"

"…yes, but why do I have to pay for the movie?"

"I like it when you act all tough and manly. Uh, I mean…because I didn't get my allowance this week. Ehe."

"…okay, fine."

"You'll like this movie, buchou, I promise!"

"What is it about?"

"It's rated the best romantic comedy of the year!"

"…really. I hate romance."

"So do I! I thought it might put us in the mood, though."

"The mood for what?"

"Um…tennis, of course! Really good tennis!"

"…right."

Now that he thought about it, there seemed to be a definite pattern to all the outings that Kaneda had claimed were "exercises in teamwork." They were more like…dates.

But -- what did that mean?

He needed to think some more --

__

"Akazawa-buchou! For this next exercise, it would really help if I sat in your lap and ran my fingers through your hair!"

"Why would that help our tennis?"

"Because you will feel so much more relaxed afterwards!"

Come to think of it, Akazawa hadn't really felt all that relaxed after that incident. In fact, he'd felt quite uncomfortable, in way he'd prefer not to think about. Ever again.

Then there were all those times that Kaneda had kissed him. Which wasn't all that unpleasant, but it wasn't really tennis-related -- was it? Well, he said it was only for tennis, and Kaneda wasn't really the type to lie -- was he?

Akazawa really needed to talk to someone about this, but no, he couldn't -- he had to work it out on his own. He needed more clues; he needed to discover the entire truth! Was Kaneda really trying to improve their game, or --

__

"Buchou! It will really help if we take naked pictures of each other and post them in our rooms! That way we will know each other really well! And next we can --"

THAT had most certainly NEVER happened. Akazawa was letting his imagination get away with him; he was definitely overreacting now. But what if Kaneda actually started making demands like that? How would he respond? He didn't want Kaneda to have naked pictures of him on his bedroom walls! He didn't want Kaneda to start asking him to dress in drag and parade around! There had to be a limit somewhere! This whole teamwork thing had gone too far, and it had to be stopped! He would deny the next request that Kaneda made, no matter what!

"Akazawa-buchou! It's time for practice!" came Kaneda's sing-song voice, right on cure. Akazawa turned to tell him where he could stick his practice.

"Okay," he said.

Well, why not? Their tennis had actually improved of late, after all!


End file.
